In general, stents are used for the purpose of expanding constricted regions. Stents are formed to be suitable for their purposes based on the sizes and characteristics of various types of organs and inner cavities, i.e., placement targets, and environments, and are provided to overcome the blocking or obstruction of the flow of materials attributable to the constriction of inner cavities and to ensure the sufficient diameters of inner cavities for a prolonged period.
Meanwhile, in addition to the purpose of expanding a constricted region, various purposes of stents have been recently proposed. That is, stents are used to guide various surgical instruments through their paths and to generate additional paths for surgical instruments, as well as to recover the diameters of material paths through expansion.
Preceding documents related to conventional technologies contrived to use a stent for a purpose, other than the purpose of expanding a constricted region, include Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2013-0110413 entitled “Stent for Anastomosis” (hereinafter referred to as a “conventional technology”). In this conventional technology, a separate connection path connecting heterogeneous organs is formed, the heterogeneous organs are inosculated together, and the inoculation is maintained.
However, the conventional technology is used for the purpose of anastomosis, and thus an inosculated state is maintained by bringing heterogeneous organs into tight contact with each other and flare parts extending from both ends of a body are formed to be spread at an obtuse angle. Accordingly, the conventional technology is problematic in that it is difficult to ensure and maintain the diameter of a path sufficient for the movement of surgical instruments, and in that it is also difficult to ensure sufficient separation prevention capability, and thus the stent is separated from a location where the stent is placed.
Furthermore, the conventional technology is problematic in that the intersections of the wires of the stent connecting heterogeneous organs are configured in the same structure, and thus the metallic fatigue of the wires increases in the process of ensuring and maintaining the diameter of a path for a surgical instrument, such as an endoscope, against external forces being exerted on the stent, thereby resulting in a reduction in the lifespan of the wires constituting the stent.